KajaFax | The Officially Approved Kajagoogoo Community & Fan Club

Auburn – New Album – ‘Nashville’

Readers of KajaFax will be more than familiar with former Steve Askew collaborator Liz Lenten and her band Auburn. A friend of KajaFax, Liz is both a lovely lady and vocalist sublime….

New to KajaFax? Check out our interview with Liz Lenten HERE, as well as our review of Auburn’s previous album, Indian Summer, HERE.

Incredible as it is, over 18 months has passed since ‘Indian Summer’ and in that time, Auburn have managed to play an incredible amount of live shows, both here in the UK and also in the United States. Inspired perhaps by being billed alongside legendary San Francisco outfit Jefferson Starship, Auburn had, by 2012, returned to the creative groove and were tentatively penning songs that were to form their next long-player. Seeds sown during those New Orleans performances had been growing and were about to bear fruit, and by mid 2013 Auburn were ready to return to America. Armed with a brace of songs and that all important studio time, Liz hit the United States via that most inspiring of US cities and musical epicentre, Nashville. In the studio and ready to roll, Auburn were primed and ready to lay those tracks down, with the multi award winning producer Thomm Jutz at the helm.

The results are nothing short of spectacular….

Auburn are unequivocally unique, and although comparable to some, their sound is truly like no other. With new album ‘Nashville’, they take us on a journey of discovery through many other influences hitherto unexplored. Blues, Country, Jazz….this album takes these musical disciplines and more, blending them in some bizarre display of alchemy, turning them into something special. Uniquely special.

‘Nashville’, the new album by Auburn, is released on February 10th and can be pre-ordered through Amazon via THIS LINK. KajaFax are incredibly fortunate to have been gifted a copy by the band back in November, and it’s fair to say that the disc has been given some serious rotation since then! In spite of its unique qualities, there are still parallels to be drawn between ‘Nashville’ and other classic artistes spanning many genres, some of which are very close to the Kajagoogoo camp (Limahl fans read on). Clearly influenced by legends such as Billie Holliday and Bonnie Raitt, many other ingredients go into the mix to form the Auburn sound. In ‘Nashville’, the band has an album to rival those of its US contemporaries, such as Madeleine Peyroux, Norah Jones, and the late Karen Dalton, artists the calibre of which Auburn are often favourably likened to.

Highlights for us here at KajaFax are ‘Crazy People’, a quirky number and amongst the more ‘pop’ oriented tracks on the album, the beautiful ‘Butterfly’, co-written with Mark Gustavina, and the seemingly Serge Gainsbourg inspired ‘If You Knew’, which for me personally takes the best elements of SG’s ‘Bubble Gum’ and twists it around, making a contemporary, modern pop piece. The great Monsieur Gainsbourg would no doubt have relished the opportunity to have written something for Liz to work her vocal magic on…

The jewel in the crown of the album is ‘I Would Fall Down’, a full-on country styled track. Written by Lenten and oozing quality and class, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was lifted straight out of the Michael Nesmith songbook….complete with Red Rhodes-esque guitar work.

Clearly, KajaFax can’t recommend this album highly enough!

Released via Scarlet Records on January 27th, why not order your copy?

Click the below logo to be redirected to Amazon and the product page.

If you want the heads up on some of the tracks on ‘Nashville‘ (plus the chance to revisit some older songs) check out these mp3 samples, as taken from the official ‘Electronic Press Kit’ for the album:

KajaFax returns in a few days with more ‘goo – for information on Auburn, check out their website at www.auburn.org.uk, or check out our dedicated Auburn page, accessible from the KajaFax home page banner, which we will keep online right up until the album’s release.

LIVE DATES NOW ADDED!

Thanks for visiting KajaFax – the #1 source of all things Kajagoogoo online!